HARVARD FORWARD
ENDORSED CANDIDATES
Harvard Forward is proud to endorse seven candidates for the HAA Board of Directors. Each of these candidates supports the Harvard Forward mission and has committed, if elected, to help ensure that the Harvard Forward platform is implemented, insofar as they are able to in their position as an HAA Elected Director.
We encourage all supporters of Harvard Forward to vote for these candidates in the HAA Board of Directors election.
An expert on sustainable development, infrastructure, and energy, Santiago Creuheras is a senior consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.
He also serves as a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and as an advisor to the Mexican Chamber of Deputies on sustainability and the environment.
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Creuheras recently served as director general for energy efficiency and sustainability of the Ministry of Energy of Mexico. Additionally, he chaired the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation and co-led the Energy Efficiency and Transitions Finance Working Group of the G20.
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An active participant in alumni activities around the world, Creuheras is a former president and current board member of the Harvard Club of Mexico, an alumni interviewer for Harvard College, and a member of Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs and Harvard Alumni for Global Development. As a former leader within “Fundación México en Harvard”, he helped increase opportunities for students pursuing studies at Harvard. He has also served in various roles for Harvard’s David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard Business School’s Energy and Environment Club, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Graduate School of Design and Harvard Extension School.
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SANTIAGO
CREUHERAS
ALM ’00, ALM ’01
Mexico City, Mexico
Water and climate scientist Kelsey Leonard is a Banting Postdoctoral Research Fellow at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.
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After graduating from Harvard College, Leonard became the first Native American woman to earn a science degree from the University of Oxford, receiving her master’s in water science, policy, and management.
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As a citizen of Shinnecock Indian Nation and an environmental leader, Leonard strives to be a strong advocate for the protection of Indigenous waters through enhanced interjurisdictional coordination and meaningful consultation. She is a tribal representative on the Mid-Atlantic Committee on the Ocean and a member of the Great Lakes Water Quality Board of the International Joint Commission.
A member of Native Americans at Harvard College as a student, she is a former president and current board member of the Native American Alumni of Harvard University Shared Interest Group (SIG). She has also chaired the Prize Book Committee of the Harvard Club of Western Pennsylvania, and served on the HAA Board of Directors recent graduate committee.
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KELSEY TREY
LEONARD
College '10
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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MICHAEL
LEWIS
AB '93
Cambridge, Massachusetts
An experienced IT professional, Michael D. Lewis is a partner and strategic technology advisor at iCorps Technologies. He also serves as senior advisor for design firm Carlo Ratti Associati and its Makr Shakr robotic bartending system.
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As an undergraduate, Lewis was involved in the Kuumba Singers, Black Students Association, Dunster House Committee, Science Fiction Association, and Harvard Computer Society. As an alumnus, he has remained active in the Harvard community, including the Dunster House Senior Common Room, Harvard Gender and Sexuality Caucus, Harvard Black Alumni Society, and Harvard Club of Boston.
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Lewis has served on the HAA Board of Directors as an appointed director for Harvard College and as a member of the College Alumni Outreach Committee that focuses on engaging alumni between their 10th and 30th Reunions. He has also co-chaired the program committee for his class’s 15th, 20th, and 25th Reunions as well as the Chief Marshal Selection Committee.
An Emmy Award–winning journalist and physician, Mallika Marshall, MD, is the health reporter at CBS Boston/WBZ-TV and an instructor at Harvard Medical School (HMS). She is also a staff physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and a contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications.
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With nearly 20 years of media experience, Marshall has been the “HealthWatch” anchor at WBZ-TV News and a contributor for broadcast outlets including CBS News. She also hosted Dr. Mallika Marshall, a nationally syndicated series of health news reports.
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Marshall completed her medical residency at Harvard in both internal medicine and pediatrics. She was an associate editor of the Harvard Medical School Family Health Guide and a contributing editor for the HMS affiliated website, InteliHealth.
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A member of the HAA Board of Directors, Marshall serves on the Storytelling/Public Narrative Committee and the College Alumni Outreach Committee that focuses on engaging alumni between their 10th and 30th Reunions. In addition, she has volunteered as an alumni interviewer for Harvard College.
MALLIKA
MARSHALL
AB '92
Weston, Massachusetts
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BEN
WEI
AB '09
New York, New York
Ben Wei is passionate about creating organizations centered around impact, particularly in providing opportunities for economic empowerment in historically disadvantaged communities.
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A few years after graduation, Wei launched Access Code, a nonprofit focused on providing in-demand coding education to prepare adult women, minorities, and immigrants from underserved communities for careers in technology.
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During his time building Access Code, Wei sought to find mentors for his inaugural class of students and turned to the Harvard alumni network. He cofounded the Harvard in Tech Shared Interest Group (SIG) with a mission to provide Harvard alumni with resources and networks to encourage innovation and the utilization of technology to push society forward. The SIG now hosts dozens of events around the globe annually and has served over 10,000 alumni.
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In addition to helping Harvard in Tech expand its impact, Wei is the founder and CEO of Nova Invite, a mobile marketplace for social media influencers. Previously, he served as engagement and marketing chair for the Harvard Alumni Association, membership services chair for the Harvard Club of New York, and New York City class captain for Harvard Young Alumni.
As the CEO of Alariss Global (cofounded with a Harvard classmate), Joyce Zhang enables international skills and knowledge exchange by matching global citizens in developed countries with emerging market opportunities where they can achieve the highest positive impact.
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Zhang previously worked for financial technology company Human Interest, American technology companies in China and Singapore, the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation in Kenya, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
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Zhang found inspiration for her career through classes and student organizations like the Institute of Politics, the Undergraduate Council, the Chinese Students Association, and the Harvard College in Asia Program. For her leadership on campus, she received the Harvard Foundation award for improving intercultural and race relations, as well as the Reflections award for Asian American leaders, and was elected as a class marshal.
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Since graduating, she has served as an officer for the Harvard Asian American Alumni Alliance (H4A) Shared Interest Group, an alumni interviewer, an HAA Board member, co-chair of her 10th Reunion, and non-resident tutor for Leverett House.
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JOYCE
ZHANG
AB '09
San Francisco, California
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VANESSA
ZOLTAN
MDiv '15
Medford, Massachusetts
Writer and entrepreneur Vanessa Zoltan is the co-host of Harry Potter & the Sacred Text, a weekly podcast she created with two Harvard Divinity School (HDS) classmates.
Zoltan is CEO and cofounder of Not Sorry Productions, a feminist organization that produces podcasts, educational content, live shows, and immersive experiences with the goal of addressing the spiritual needs of its participants. With over 16 million downloads, Harry Potter & the Sacred Text allows listeners to find meaning through a secular text that they love, engaging in traditional forms of sacred reading to explore broad themes like vulnerability, betrayal, and friendship. She also hosts the Hot & Bothered podcast, which applies a similar approach to writing romance novels.
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Zoltan has been a proctor in Harvard Yard since 2012 and previously served as assistant humanist chaplain at Harvard. In 2019, she was selected as a Peter J. Gomes STB ’68 Memorial Honoree. Chosen each year by the HDS Alumni/Alumnae Council, the Gomes Honorees represent the wide range of human experience on which HDS graduates have an impact.